Michael Whatley, the Republican candidate in North Carolina’s Senate race, said he supports President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that’s been the subject of intense criticism from GOP senators.
At a Wednesday campaign stop at the Brunswick County GOP headquarters, Whatley was asked by an attendee whether he supported “this fund for the people who were persecuted by Biden on Jan. 6.” Check out the audio here.
“I was really upset that some of the Republicans opposed the president, and I just want to make sure you’re going to be on the president’s side on that issue,” the attendee asked.
“Well, I will be because I have been with him since 2015,” Whatley responded.
“Yeah, OK, so you think that fund is good?” the attendee asked.
“Yeah,” Whatley replied. “We’ll kind of see how they implement it and what they’re going to do with it… they did ridiculous persecution.”
Whatley is running against former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in a high-profile Senate battle over a GOP-held seat. We’ll note that many Senate Republicans oppose the $1.8 billion fund and are holding up the reconciliation bill over these concerns.
“The American people deserve a justice system focused on protecting communities and putting violent criminals behind bars, not one weaponized by Democrats for political lawfare,” Whatley spokesperson DJ Griffin said in a statement. “Democrats spent more time going after political opponents than protecting the public.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who Whatley is running to succeed, called the fund a “payout pot for punks.”
